The Forbidden Kingdom Movie Review

There’s nothing like a good Kung Fu movie showcasing cool moves to stimulate your inner Bruce Lee. The problem is that most martial arts movies are for adults with a LOT of blood and violence.

For the North American child taking Kung Fu lessons, this is a great movie! The main character is a teenaged boy obsessed with Kung Fu who travels back in time to ancient China so he can return a magical staff to the Monkey King. But there are a lot of bad guys who get in the way and some pretty serious Kung Fu training. With fun performances by the great Jackie Chan and Jet Li (yay Drunken Fist and Snake Boxing), Kung Fu learners are inspired to do their Ma Bu and build strength so they can do really cool stuff.

The move is primarily in English, but there are moments of Mandarin, which also provide an incentive for our young Kung Fu learners to explore the language. My boys were 6 and 8 when we watched it. While there is, of course, fighting, there is very little gratuitous violence and no real gore. I love that the good guys always want to do the right thing.

I give The Forbidden Kingdom 4 out of 5 stars and now I want to learn the staff!